


The Things We Do For Friends

by Twocatstoo



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: Action/Adventure, Drama, Gen, Hurt/Comfort
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-12-31
Updated: 2013-12-31
Packaged: 2018-10-06 21:11:20
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,409
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10344642
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Twocatstoo/pseuds/Twocatstoo
Summary: SPOILERS: Nothing specific, but takes place late 3rd SeasonSam finds a way to cheer up Daniel.





	

**Author's Note:**

> Note from Yuma, the archivist: this work was originally archived at [Stargatefan.com](http://fanlore.org/wiki/Stargatefan.com). To preserve the archive, we began manually importing its works to the AO3 as an Open Doors-approved project in 2017. I e-mailed all creators about the move and posted announcements, but may not have reached everyone. If you are (or know) this creator, please contact me using the e-mail address on [StargateFan Archive Collection profile](http://archiveofourown.org/collections/StargateFan_Archive_Collection).

The Things We Do For Friends

##  The Things We Do For Friends

##### Written by Twocats   
Comments? Write to us at [twocats@onlink.net](mailto:twocats@onlink.net)

  * SPOILERS: Nothing specific, but takes place late 3rd Season 
  * CONTENT WARNINGS: One little bad word 
  * Sam finds a way to cheer up Daniel. 
  * PG [D] [Hc] 



* * *

"James Aviation. How may I help you?" A professional voice answered the phone on the first ring. James Aviation had obviously moved up to employing a full time receptionist. 

"Deidre James, please." 

Major Samantha Carter had made many good friends among the few female officers in the Air Force. After all there were only so many people who could commiserate about the poor design of the female issue G-Suits. Dede James was the best of those friends, but sadly one who was distanced by the demands of the SGC, if not the 20 miles to her home in suburban Colorado Springs. More importantly at this moment, she was a friend with a standing offer of the use of her favourite business tax write-off…A 6 place, Piper Malibu. The phone clicked off `hold'.

"Deidre James," a pleasant southern lilt tinting a voice that was all business answered.

"Hi Dede. It's Sam Carter," Sam pulled the phone back from her ear anticipating the next noise from the phone.

"Sally!…Long time no see," Deidre's voice settled back to a normal volume. 

"Sorry. You know work and all. How are you?" It was indeed good to hear the voice of an old friend. One of the best kind-the kind you could not have a chance to see for months on end, and pick up right where you had left off. Sam's face matched the smile she knew was at the other end of the line. 

"Great. You?" 

"Pretty Good." Carter couldn't add the `all things considering' that she really felt. It had been a hard few weeks for all of SG-1. 

"Are you in town?" Deidre was too well trained to ask pointedly where Sam was calling from. Her call display would just give `unknown caller'. 

"No, I'm out at the mountain still. Keeping pretty busy here." 

"Slave drivers." Deirdre laughed under her breath. She had left the Air Force to build her own light commercial aviation empire. Compared to running a rapidly growing business, the Air Force looked like easy duty.

"Don't I know it. How's Meg?" Carter had last seen her friend's child a long 4 months ago.

"She has officially discovered `No'-other than that fantastic, growing like a weed." Meg was the other reason Dede had left the Air Force. There was companionable silence for a moment.

"I have a favour to ask, Dede. I'm wondering if I can steal your Piper for a couple of hours tomorrow."

"Anytime Sal." Carter smiled at her friend, still using her nickname from basic officer training together. Sam Carter's ambition for the space program had been her defining characteristic. When someone had accidentally called her `Sally', the nickname had stuck. 

"Planning a hot weekend away?" It was the kind of teasing they easily shared; from anyone else Carter might have winced.

"Don't I wish. I have a friend who's been sick for a bit. I figured I'd take him up to Denver to see an exhibit he's keen to see at the Museum of Man. Some Egyptian thing I think. Cheer him up a bit…" 

Nonchalant to the extreme. In truth, Daniel was still quite weak, depressed, and frustrated at being planet bound on `very light duty'. Anything that brought a smile to his face would be well worth the effort. 

"Boyfriend?" Dede laughed expectantly.

"Good friend. He's widowed," Carter caught herself on the words. When had she begun to think of Daniel as a widow? 

"As I've always said…My planes are your planes. It's no problem. I'll write the fuel off as a business cost for you." Deirdre was the sort to give you the shirt off her back, and she knew firsthand how lousy Air Force pay, even for a Major, was. "You'll be a…prospective client". Even Sam smiled at this-it would be the day when she could just charter a plane for the heck of it. It was a stretch to find the time to keep current on single engines, although with Stargate programs `hazard pay', at least the cost was not quite the obstacle it used to be. 

"Thanks a million Dede. I owe you for this." 

"You can pay me back by making it out to Meg's 2nd birthday…May 18th. 

Remind her who her God-mommy is." There was a beeping on Deidre's end of the line, signalling another incoming call. "Sal…I've got to take that call-probably my chief mechanic. I'm gonna put you back through to Jessa and she'll give you the codes to get into the hanger and where to park in Denver. We've got a spot there now," another insistent beeping on the line. "Hope this cheers your friend up. Call me when you get back," then a click as the line transferred over to a new ringing noise.

"So, do you think he's up to it?" Major Samantha Carter took another furtive look around the infirmary. It would not do to have her plan leaked to Daniel before she even had permission from his doctor to take him.

"Honestly, I think it would do him good…He's been talking about the exhibit quite a bit. The only thing I ask is to keep the cabin pressure up. He's still pretty easily short of breath."

"It's a pressurised cabin. No problem." Sam was almost rubbing her hands together in excitement over her plan coming together so nicely.

"And try not to let him get too excited…" Janet was almost wishful in this thought. It was the first American showing of some new artefacts from the Upper Nile, nothing remotely `Goa'uldish', or it would be at the base instead of the Museum of Man in Denver. Given the amount of good natured grousing that Daniel had been doing that he didn't have the time, or strength to drive up and see the exhibit, he was bound to be thrilled at the chance to see it.

"Not too excited…Right Janet," Sam shook her head with half suppressed laughter. Giving a jaunty wave goodbye, she headed back into the main hallway of the base to arrange the next step of her plan.

"Safe trip. Bring me back a souvenir!" Janet called after her friend. 

With the infirmary empty since Daniel had been released a few days before, Doctor Janet Fraiser settled back to her desk to finish the paperwork generated by a military bureaucracy. She paused for a moment, contemplating Sam's plan. It would do Daniel good. Hell, it would do Sam good to get out of the base for few hours. Her next piece of paper was a short note to General Hammond, recommending the days leave on medical grounds. Stress relief was preventative medicine of the finest kind.

"Major Carter?" The airman stood at attention in the doorway. 

"Yes." She stood up from her desk and drafting a leave request for herself and Daniel.

"General Hammond asked that I deliver this to you." He held out an envelope.

"Thank you," she took the envelope, and the airman withdrew. Routine mail was distributed into mail boxes, and picked up when she remembered, not hand delivered. Cautiously opening the envelope, she found three pieces of paper inside. A completed leave request for a 

Major Samantha Carter, a letter of authorisation for one Daniel Jackson, and a hand-written note. `Doctor Fraiser advises that you are to ensure Dr. Jackson's well-being during a brief trip to Denver. Enjoy yourselves. Gen. G. Hammond'. Sam sank back into her desk chair. Sweeping her own half completed request into the garbage, she cast a thankful glance in the direction of the infirmary. Janet was indeed an angel.

"Budget Rent a Car." 

"Yes, I need to make a reservation for Denver Airport."

"Yes Ma'am. For what date?"

"Tomorrow."

"And how long will you need the vehicle?"

"Just for the afternoon."

"I have a Cavalier available. Will that do?"

"Great. We'll be landing around 1p.m. at the grass terminal.

Can an agent meet us there?"

"I'm sure we can arrange to have someone pick you up Ma'am. Can I have your name please?"

"Samantha Carter."

Robert Rothman shared a small office with two other members of the anthropology staff, but his corner was distinctly his. Its clutter was rivalled only by that of his mentors, in sharp contrast to the neat baskets and piles of his office mates. Sam knocked on the half-open door, not wanting to startle the soul occupant.

"Major Carter." Rothman's head emerged from half under the desk. "Can I help you?"

"I'm hoping so." Robert cleared a chair for her, and made frantic gestures to clear enough of his desk to look respectable. "I have a favour to ask…" She didn't know Robert well, and paused awkwardly "for Daniel, really." He nodded, his hands still trying to form his desk into what he though was neatness.

"He's still doing O.K. right?" Words of Daniel's injuries had, as always spread through the base.

"Much better. I'm actually hoping to take him up to Denver tomorrow. There's an Egyptian thing up there…"

Robert jumped in, his enthusiasm so like that of his friend. "Agriculture and Art of the Upper Nile. Great stuff. Really exciting exhibit. Denver was so lucky to get it….Daniel's dying to see that." 

"So I hear," Sam laughed a little…were those not the exact words Daniel had used in his complaining to her that he had so little time away from the SGC. "I was wondering if you could help me scare up tickets to take him… It sounds pretty popular." Sam had been surprised that the exhibit was pretty well booked up. Afternoons were typically reserved for school groups, and the number of visitors at one time was being limited. Reservations were recommended.

"Sure…I mean, no problem, Major Carter. I've got an old dig partner up there…she still owes me one. I'll have tickets waiting for you…for Daniel and you, right?" 

"Right. Thanks Robert. I really appreciate it."

"Hey for Daniel…anything." 

"Hi Daniel." Sam Carter ever so casually strolled up beside him as he sat trying to make the soup in front of him look appetising. Daniel's head popped up from its intense scrutiny of the bowl, sporting a slightly bewildered smile. He obviously hadn't been expecting company in the nearly empty cafeteria.

"Hi."

"Are you almost done?" Sam looked at the half eaten bowl of soup. It was promising that Daniel had remembered to come and eat of his own volition. Even if this early lunch was probably also breakfast. 

"I think so." He pushed the tray back with a sigh, and drained the last of the milk from his glass. Janet's order had been lots of nutritious meals, and often. Cafeteria food might be nutritious, but it wasn't gourmet dining. 

"Great." Sam pulled the tray away from him, and reaching behind her back, deftly shoved the tray into the nearby rack. "Let's go." She stood, looking expectantly at her still sitting companion.

"Go where?" Daniel made no move to stand.

"I have an errand to run. You're coming with me."

"I am?"

"Yes. So, you need to get changed, get your jacket, and meet me topside in 15 minutes." 

"I do?"

"Yes, you do."

"I don't think Janet meant for me to leave the base yet…" Daniel had felt the wrath of Fraiser often enough to be wary of disobeying her instructions, especially only so recently released from her clutches.

"It's O.K. with her. You need fresh air too."

"You asked her?" Daniel's curiosity was piqued. 

"She said the fresh air would be good for you. 15 minutes. Topside. See you there, Daniel." Sam turned towards the door, her back hiding her grin. Daniel would be there. If nothing else his curiosity would get the better of him.

"Uh Sam…Town is that way." Daniel pointed in the direction of the main road into Colorado Springs. 

"We're not going into town, Daniel." Sam steered the car onto the less travelled road towards Colorado Springs Corporate Air Park. 

"Where are we going?" Daniel's voice was overly level. 

"Denver," Sam took her eyes off the road long enough to favour him with a wide smile to accompany her cheerful announcement.

"No really, Sam." Daniel's voice held a measure of irritation. His arm was lightly wrapped around his chest, bracing his still healing ribs against the bumps on the road and his patience was wearing obviously thin.

"Denver…Great coffee, good chicken place…" Daniel glared across the car at her, "… I hear there's some Egypt thing at the museum." 

Daniel's face broke into a smile. The rough road and cryptic journey were forgotten in an instant.

"A friend's loaned me her Piper. We'll fly up. Rothman's got some tickets waiting for us. I'll have you back in time for a late supper. What do you say Daniel?" Sam's face formed into a broad grin, her eyes beaming, looking eagerly for Daniel's response. 

For a long moment Daniel's mouth hung open, speechless, till his face matched hers. "Wow!…Sam…You're… amazing." 

The smile on Daniel's face made it all worthwhile. 

**The End**

  


* * *

  


> I wrote this in response to a very old  
> thread about knowing more about characters lives outside the SGC. At  
> the time, I wrote it assuming Sam was a pilot. However, just `cause the Air Force didn't teach her to fly, doesn't mean she didn't pick up the skill somewhere. I plead utter ignorance in the matter of real museum's in Denver…so apologies to any Denverites out there for making up stuff about your hometown.

* * *

> February 26, 2001  
> © The characters mentioned in this story are the property of Showtime and Gekko Film Corp.  
> The Stargate, SG-I, the Goa'uld and all other characters  
> who have appeared in the series STARGATE SG-1 together with the names,   
> titles and backstory are the sole copyright property of MGM-UA Worldwide Television,   
> Gekko Film Corp, Glassner/Wright Double Secret Productions and Stargate SG-I Prod. Ltd.   
> Partnership.  
> This fanfic is not intended as an infringement upon those rights and   
> solely meant for entertainment.   
> All other characters, the story idea and the story itself   
> are the sole property of the author.   
> 

* * *

  



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